Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills
by The Great Meefini
Summary: *Companion piece to "xJust Dive Right Inx", do not read this unless you've read that already. You will be confused.* Ever wonder what's going on back home while Sarah's off galavanting around with the Warped Tour Gang? Well I did. Zac-centric.


_***AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a companion fic to xxIDENTITYxxCRISIS's fic __xJust Dive Right Inx__. If you haven't read that you really should before you read this fic, or else you will literally have no clue what the eff is going on. Plus it's a B.A. fic written by my Bestie and you should really just read it regardless. This is basically just what's going on at home whilst Sarah is off galavanting around. It's mostly centered around Zac and his summer adventures, but will also have dashes of Cera and Nalani, just for funsies (and because they aren't in J.D.R.I. as much as I would necessarily like). If you're wondering about the timeline, it starts at basically the same time as the second part of the 1st chapter of J.D.R.I. and will mostly follow the same timeline for the first few chaps. I will try to keep it matching up as much as I can. Please don't flame me for continuity errors; it's frucking hard to get 2 stories with indefinite timelines to match up._

CHAPTER ONE

When you're under 5 feet tall and weigh less than 100 pounds, the tuba is a challenging instrument. It's even harder when you're desperately attempting to ignore the jerk in the corner who's supposed to be your friend, but instead is hysterically laughing at your struggle like it's an episode of SNL that's hosted by Justin Timberlake (Seriously, he's totally hot, has an amazing voice, is super talented, AND he's funny? *dies*). And it's damn near impossible when you're trying your hardest not to break down and weep because said friend is about to abandon you for a whole YEAR.

I officially *hate* this day.

(Though it did improve a bit after spying a rather interesting exchange between Sarah and some beezy of a piccolo player. Honestly, girls are SO complicated.)

~*~

Over the next few days I was given ample reason to sulk. The only thing anyone seemed to be capable of talking about was graduation, and Sarah was no exception. It was all "finals" this and "grad night" that with her. And of course, I got dragged around from store to store by 3 overly excited girls to weigh in my opinions on graduation garbs. Not that they weren't immediately disregarded anyway.

Seriously, did they NOT get that I just wanted to forget about all of this? Did Sarah NOT understand that her graduating a year ahead of me was the worst thing that could EVER happen to me?

GIRLS. They're SO unthoughtful.

AND, on top of it all, I still hadn't gotten an acceptance letter to the summer culinary program I had applied for MONTHS ago. Every year the local college put on this summer long program with several different classes for the local high schoolers. This year I had finally gotten up the nerve to apply for the ultra exclusive culinary arts course (they only take 5 people a year), but after several months, I was starting to feel discouraged.

~*~

Before I could fully process it, I was desperately trying not to cry as I cheered loudly with the rest of the band after Sarah's name was called and she was rushed across the stage by hurried faculty.

Standing outside the venue afterwards, I found myself vying for Sarah's attention as all the other band kids swarmed around her. Um, excuse me, she's MY best friend, not all of yours. Let a bestie through!

When I finally managed to capture her attention, I lost it.

I'll admit it- I balled.

And so what? In a few weeks, I wasn't going to be able to see her for FOREVER!

Sarah hurriedly tried to comfort me with empty promises of Skype before being rushed off by Cera.

Figures.

~*~

Apparently grad night wasn't all it was cracked up to be, which was oddly comforting.

A few days later, Sarah texted me all kinds of excited. Apparently, her mom (who was now the best mom EVER, despite the previous months of constant complaining about her being paranoid) had surprised her with a dog (an overly excitable Pit Bull/Great Dane mix named Harley). Just what you want on a long trip in which you'll be spending most of your time cooped up in a van.

Now she was dragging me all over Petco after her crazy dog. I had insisted on coming along (after one particular shopping trip in which Sarah dropped over $300 in less than 2 hours, completely blowing all her 18th B-day money, she was no longer permitted to shop unsupervised) which worked out well for her anyways, since she needed a ride (girl is 18 years old and she's never even had a learner's permit).

It was about the 5th puppy outfit in that I was beginning to really worry about Sarah's crazy spending. By the time we got through the toy section I could barely contain myself anymore, but it wasn't till the ridiculous puppy bling that I finally couldn't hold it anymore.

"Sarah, just exactly HOW are you paying for all this? You don't even have a job! Well, you don't, until tomorrow…"

"Chill sweetie, the guys on the tour knew I'd be one of the only girls, so they sent me some cash. TECHNICALLY it's sympathy money- to be used only for doting upon me; but I figure- Hey, if my Harley is happy, I'm happy."

Always the excuses with her. I swear, Sarah could excuse her way out of 10 car pile up with nothing more than a sneeze.

And furthermore, I didn't trust these "musicians" as far as I could throw them (which given my size was not very far at all, mind you). I mean, did Sarah REALLY think it was a good idea to travel all over the country in a van with a bunch of strange guys?

Mark my words, this was not going to end well....

~*~

_***AUTHOR'S NOTE: As you may have noticed, this story is lacking one major thing so far: someone to be "fanning", lol. So, what I want you to do is R&R and vote for the rock star you want to be in the story! I will write whoever gets the most votes into the story. So go vote!_


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